The hot water dripping over my body did wonders to my mood along with the tingling sensations from Preston’s kiss. I wished he would have joined me, but with his mother popping up, that brought everything to an abrupt end. While I never thought of Preston in that way before, him merely acknowledging his feelings made me understand what my mother had told me. He was always there to protect me. I could only imagine how he’d guard my heart.

After I got dressed and stepped out of the bedroom, I realized Elaina had gone, leaving us alone once again. The insatiable lust from before had vanished. He stood over the meal he prepared pushing the food around the plate, heavy in his thoughts.

“Preston,” I smiled approaching him, “Thank you. This looks good.”

“Any time,” he sighed, “Just some deer and a few vegetables. You still like the leafy green stuff, right?”

I realized he was trying to lighten the mood, but it didn’t work.

“What’s the matter? Do you want to eat in a little bit and maybe pick up our conversation from where it left off on the bathroom sink?”

A half grin surfaced and then disappeared just as quick, “Sorry about that. I let my more primitive urges get the better of me.”

“It’s alright,” I touched his hand slightly, but he pulled away. I didn’t get it. What could have possibly changed from then and now?

“What’s the matter, Preston?”

“Nothing,” he shook his head, still avoiding eye contact with me, “You should eat and get back home before your Dad gets worried and comes here looking for you.”

“He knows I’m here,” I told him, “I want to know what’s wrong with you.”

“Nothing is wrong. Sit down and eat before you go.”

“Are you kicking me out? Do you have somewhere else to be? Am I stopping you from being somewhere else or with someone else? This is very confusing from just a minute ago you’re all over me in your bathroom and the moment your mom shows up, it stops, which I completely understand, but it’s like you wish it didn’t happen.”

“I have to be honest with you Lorna, I wish it didn’t.”

Hearing those words knocked the wind out of me. I sat down to catch my breath and stop my emotions from pushing those tears down my cheeks. He came to sit next to me.

“I need you to understand,” he said tipping his head forward to look up at me, “I meant everything I said to you. For a while now, things have been changing between us, but lately, your mind has been elsewhere. I don’t want to move into a space that’s still occupied by someone else.”

“I’m done with Mig. I want to know what you want from me.”

“I don’t want anything from you, Lorna. I want you to be honest with yourself about what you want and why you want it. Have you ever stopped to wonder why you went after Mig in the first place?”

“I have. I liked that he didn’t treat me differently. I liked that he treated me…”

He cut me off, “He treated you like one of his fans, and once he found out who you were, it changed right? Well, he’s never changed. Mig has always been Mig. He’s always going to be that conniving little twerp who’ll do anything to get in a position of power. He’s using you, and if you haven’t seen that yet, then I need to pull back until you’re able to see who truly cares about you.”

“I have to go,” I told him abruptly. Having him essentially call me out for being oblivious to things right in front of me left my lust for him dead on the floor.

“You don’t have to rush,” he sighed, “I didn’t want to lay that all on you. Like I told you before, this thing I believe is between us is on me to show you. I should have said something before this whole Mig thing, but I didn’t. I was too late, and now we have this.”

“No, we don’t,” I told him shaking my head, “Maybe you shouldn’t have said anything at all. I have to go.”

I took off out of the building, scaled, and flew home. I didn’t have the strength to read between the lines with Preston. I just wanted some peace, and I knew that’s what waited for me back in Empyrean. The palace was quiet for the most part. I wasn’t sure where all the guards were. Dad wasn’t skulking about, yelling, or ordering anyone around. Mother was milling around her chambers, putting up new flowers when I poked my head into her room. She didn’t even need to turn around to see it was me.

“So, is that young man coming back to ask for your hand in marriage?” she laughed.

I walked in and plopped onto her bed. Falling back looking up at the ceiling, I couldn’t help but laugh myself.

“No, I don’t think Mig will be coming back up here anytime soon. Did you see how Daddy treated him? The guards would probably kill him if he came back here.”

“I don’t doubt that,” she giggled again.

“Where are they anyway? The place seems empty.”

She moved from the large vase by her window to another one next to her closet. It was her personal space. While they shared his chambers, she enjoyed keeping a private area just for herself. She tossed a few lavender petals over me as she moved around the room. It made sense they’d be her favorite flower. She told me it wasn’t until she moved up here that she’d even known they existed.

“Argos took a few of the guards out flying and for some good old-fashioned fun. Things have been a bit tense around here lately. We all needed some fun time.”

I sat up, “And is this fun for you?”

“It’s about as much fun as I want to have. So what happened down there? Did you get rid of that Onyx Skull once and for all?”

“Yeah, I think so. I had a bit of help,” I mumbled with thoughts of Preston rattling around in my head.

“Preston?”

“Yeah.”

“And what’s going on between the two of you?”

“You were right about him,” I admitted, “But he’s pulled back and thinks I still have unfinished business with Mig, the Onyx Skull.”

“Do you?” she asked sitting next to me.

“I don’t want anything else to do with him, but I have a feeling because Preston keeps showing up to save me from him, he thinks it’s more Preston’s decision than my own. I think one last conversation will probably end it.”

“So not once and for all,” she giggled, “And what about you and Preston. What’s happening? Is that something you even want?”

“I’ve counted on Preston for so long that it’s become an afterthought. I know that any time I’m in Black Harbor, he’s gonna be around. I never pictured him being around for anything more than protecting me or annoying me.”

“Sounds like you have a lot to think about.”

I did. So I left my mother in her chambers to go and get some rest. Laying down with my mind all over the place, I wondered what my life would be like with Preston being more than my protector. It wasn’t something I’d thought about beyond these past few days. He was right. Mig had taken up so much of my waking moments along with my desperate need not to be the daughter of Argos Ornopolis, that I completely ignored him and his feelings. He had to have feelings for me to show up as often as he did. Even the guards around the palace didn’t show up as often as he did.

The moon was high in the night sky as I drifted in and out of sleep. The soft crumble of pebbles falling onto my floor woke me completely. The image of someone making their way into my room forced my nerves to tingle and my talons to come out. That blonde hair flowing in the wind no longer held any sex appeal.

“Mig, what the hell do you think you’re doing?!” I whispered pulling my sheets up to cover my sheer sleeping shirt.

“I needed to talk to you, away from your Dad and away from Preston,” he smiled looking around the room. He picked up a hairbrush, stared at it, and tossed it back onto the dresser before moving toward me.

“Stand right there and explain yourself. You have about 2 minutes before you meet my other half.”

“I wanted to say I was sorry and I know that getting you to have another conversation with me was going to be difficult.”

“Yeah, because you don’t deserve another conversation, nor do you deserve another chance!”

He approached me with his hand out and pulled away. He came close with an aggressive look in his eyes, but it softened a bit as he spoke, “I just came to apologize. Let’s go fly a bit and then go somewhere to talk.”

“No!” I told him firmly.

“Just come on! Lorna, I came all this way! The least you can do-”

I refused to let him finish, “The least I can do is let you live! Now get out.”

He approached me again, but this time I didn’t shrink away. Instead, I swiped at him with my open claws. They pierced his skin, opening up a cut that he grabbed right before anger filled those dark indigo eyes of his.

“You stupid,” he began to growl as he lunged at me. We tussled a bit before I finally got the upper hand and flung him to the floor. I had him pinned until he bucked his hips, forcing me off of him and reversing our positions.

“You know, I’ve always wanted to feel what it would be like to have you under me,” he sneered, “But I’m not going to force you to do anything you don’t want to do. You deserve to be Queen of it all, and you deserve to have me by your side doing it. The sooner you realize that, the better it will be for all of us.”

He leaned down to kiss me gently on the forehead before he released his grasp and headed back toward the window.

“When you’re ready for our future together, come and get me,” he winked and dropped out of sight. Scrambling to my feet, I headed to the window to see those black wings of his slicing through the air. I wanted to kill him. And at that moment, I scaled and took off after him … that’s exactly what I planned to do.